


Scars

by crazyrandomhappenklance



Series: Voltron Ficlets [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Denial of Feelings, Emotionally Repressed, Feelings Realization, Galaxy Garrison, Gay Keith (Voltron), HE CRADLED HIM IN HIS ARMS, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance has Scars, Lance remembers, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), Post-Canon, Post-War, They had a bonding moment, he never forgot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-03 02:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20257336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyrandomhappenklance/pseuds/crazyrandomhappenklance
Summary: Lance never forgot the bonding moment he had with Keith; how could he? He also carries the memory of it permanently on his back. He’s kept those scars and memories hidden for years, but one day he was bound to slip up. What is he still so scared of?A Voltron Fanficers weekly prompt fic.





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> This week’s Voltron Fanficers’ weekly prompt was to put a playlist on shuffle and use the line from the first song to play. The song that came up was Mark Ronson’s Nothing Breaks Like a Heart, the first line is, “This world can hurt you / it cuts you deep and leaves a scar”... well, if that doesn’t scream Klance pain I don’t know what does! 
> 
> I also found an incredibly cheesy song called Scars by I AM THEY. It’s cheesier than Camembert, but have a listen while you read if you like. 
> 
> I was trying to practice writing something small, trying to keep it around 1k, so I did not too badly! I’m going to try writing a few more ficlets, so I’ll start a series.

Keith’s hand that pressed to his back felt like ice, despite being fresh-out-the-shower hot. 

Lance flinched, unable to step away from the touch because of the sink already at his thighs. He caught Keith’s shocked expression in the reflection of the mirror, but he quickly looked away. He had found it hard enough to deal with it himself, without carrying the burden of someone else’s pity. 

“Don’t…” his voice was raw, torn between not wanting to speak and the need to say something. Keith’s hand remained still on that spot on his spine, slotted gently between his shoulder blades. He needed Keith to stop.

“Just… _please_…?” Lance whispered. Begged.

He heard Keith take a sip of air, “...When?” 

Lance resigned himself to the fact that Keith would need answers before he would let him go. After carrying the scars for so long, he surely should have come to terms with them, but even though years had passed, he felt their presence every day anew. A crippling reminder of the time-well, the first time-he’d almost died.

He bowed his head, his arms hung limply by his sides, “Arus. When… when…”

“I know,” Keith murmured, “I cradled you in my arms, _ remember?” _

Lance choked out a small laugh; had they really been dancing around this for so long? Now that the war had ended, it felt like a lifetime ago. They had just been boys then. Could you really blame a guy for pushing away something he was scared of? Something he’d never felt before, or at least, acknowledged to himself. An affirmative. An ‘I like boys and this is not a phase’ realisation. 

Yes, he _remembered_. Of course, he _remembered_. That feeling was something impossible to forget. Even as he had slipped in and out of consciousness, the pain in his back had kept him aware the whole time, and although the point of contact where Keith’s arm had held him had been burning in agony, the look of anguish in Keith’s eyes had doused it. 

He remembered Keith almost sounding ready to fight anyone who challenged him to carry his injured body to the cryopods. 

He remembered armour being hastily discarded and the sound of Keith’s racing heart where his ear was pressed against his chest as he swept him up in a strong hold.

He remembered the feeling of warmth, feeling safe, feeling protected. Feeling content. Feeling happy. Feeling giddy. Feeling foolish. Feeling confused.

He remembered the smell of smoke that had tumbled down from Keith’s hair when he'd turned his head. He remembered laughing to himself, delirious and high on adrenaline, as he'd thought, _ Yeah, smokin’ hot, Keith! _

He remembered listening to Keith’s angry mumbles as he'd marched double-pace down the corridors, quietly chastising him for being so foolish, for not thinking before throwing himself head-first into danger, for having no right to sacrifice himself and no right to be so selfless. Didn’t he know_ how much_ other people cared for him? If something happened to him…? 

_ “I’m not going to lose you, I’m not going to lose you, I’m not going to lose you…” _

He remembered Keith’s eyes being the last thing he'd seen as the glass of the pod slid shut and the feeling, like the connection that had suddenly bound them together had been broken. His mind had fought the impending oblivion to try and make that connection again, as he'd slipped into unconsciousness.

So, forgive him if he'd woken up, tired and disoriented, and the first thing he'd remembered was _all of that_, because in that moment, in the cold light of space, he'd had a bit of a crisis. It was a lot, okay? A boy’s allowed to have a freak-out at suddenly realising you’re stuck in space and have feelings, _ridiculously strong_ _feelings_, for one of the last people on Earth, or anywhere else, that you would expect to. 

It was a perfectly natural response to deny remembering_ all of that, _ however much he’d regretted it from that moment on, because every day since then, he had wanted to tell him. He'd wanted, _ needed, _ to confess. But the only thing he could do was watch over him, keep him safe. Let him know he always had his back, and he'd hoped that, somehow, Keith would just _know. _

So, the scars that marked his back were a painful, daily reminder of how, even though everyone told him how brave he was, he really wasn’t. He was a gutless wonder who could face up to the biggest evil in the universe but couldn’t face up to his own emotions. He couldn’t face Keith Kogane; best fighter pilot in his class, with his midnight hair and twilight eyes. 

Even now, in this moment, stood in the changing rooms of the Galaxy Garrison training centre, he couldn’t bring himself to face him. 

After all these years he’d managed to keep them hidden, both the scars and his feelings. He supposed he was bound to slip up eventually. 

The silence stretched between them, Keith’s fingers played gently along the faded lines that marred his bronzed skin. They traced delicately like he thought they might still hurt to touch and Lance’s body quivered at the feel of it. 

Keith tentatively took a tiny step closer, the ghost of his breath on Lance’s bare shoulder sent a shiver down his arm and up his neck. Lance closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing into something that wouldn’t give him away. He was sure Keith must be able to hear his heart pounding in his chest like it was trying to escape. 

“I never forgot.” The confession spilled from Lance's lips so quietly that he could bearly hear it himself. 

“I know.” Keith's breath caressed his ear. Lance felt his knees go weak and reflexively tilted his head to the side, inviting him with temptation. 

Keith moved on cue, closing the gap between them, skin to skin, and slid both his hands around Lance’s sides, caging him in his arms as his lips skimmed along his shoulder and up his neck, barely touching his skin in contrast with his palms that were possessively pressing into Lance's stomach and chest like he’d never let go. 

Lance felt a rush as if the dam that had been holding everything back had finally broken and it all came flooding out. The space was filled with something bright and weightless, something comforting and exhilarating. It made his head sing with the words he’d thought to himself over and over, stifled by fear - _ say it! _

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Lance.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Emoji comments give me life!
> 
> Come find me on Tumblr and Discord- @crazyrandomhappenklance or Twitter- @crazyrandomhap1 or on the Voltron Fanfic-ers FaceBook group.


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